White Sox Manager Robin Ventura Defends Chris Sale Starting A Brawl

It’s the final week of the 2014 Major League Baseball regular season and even out of the pennant race, Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale wasn’t happy with some fans in Detroit on Wednesday. Sale made a motion towards center field where he thought someone was stealing signs. It prompted Sale to hit Victor Martinez, who Sale thought was getting the stolen signs. Both benches cleared in the incident. [photo: Duane Burleson/Getty]

Thursday saw White Sox manager Robin Ventura defending his pitcher after Tigers manager Brad Ausmus called Sale’s actions “weak”. Ventura said that Ausmus should be focusing on his own team with Detroit in the thick of the pennant race. There needs to be more managers like that who come out and defend their players like that.

Sale may be on to something but probably didn’t need to hit Martinez in the process. The two teams have had bad blood between them for years and this will just ramp it up again when the 2015 season rolls around. Who knows how the next at-bat between Sale and Martinez will go but it has turned into must-see TV now.